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Beijing, China, May 20, 2005 - The Chinese women’s national Volleyball team will leave Beijing on Saturday, without their star player Zhao Ruirui, for China’s eastern city of Ningbo to take part in the China International Women’s Masters Tournament which is scheduled to begin on May 24.

Unfortunately for China, coach Chen Zhonghe confirmed that his tallest player at 1.97m, arguably the best blocker in the world, will not play at all in 2005 due to a calf injury, one which she aggravated at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games after suffering it earlier in the year. Chen said to cover the setback he still has a number of younger players with a lot of potential but lacking international experience while veteran players like spiker Yang Hao, middle blocker Liu Yanan and opposite Zhou Suhong are all in good form.
Pic: Happier times - Zhao Ruirui kissing the World Grand Prix trophy after China's triumph in 2003
The China International Women’s Masters Tournament is the first major international competition that they will have taken part in since winning the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and it will act as an important warm-up event for the World Grand Prix and the 2006 World Volleyball Championship.

The tournament features seven teams including Cuba, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Japan, Poland, the Dominican Republic and China, who will participate from May 24 to 28 in two pools of preliminary round action.

Chen said before leaving Beijing that the Chinese team will be taking the tournament very seriously, especially their first match with the Netherlands as “we know that the Dutch team is making progressing very rapidly and impressively. They achieved excellent results in a series of competitions recently in Europe and they may yet become a major rival at the 2008 Olympic Games.

“Another strong opponent are the Cubans who are maturing all the time and their main line-up is almost the same as in the Olympic Games. They are probably our main rivals in the coming years,” Chen added.

Chen added that the Chinese team will take the opportunity to coordinate their teamwork between the veterans and the young players who lack international competition experience, also saying the tournament is a great opportunity for China to prepare for the 2006 Women’s World Championship and the 2005 World Grand Prix.